2022 (34th) Report of the NOU Records Committee

Authors

Mark A. Brogie, Nebraska Ornithologists' Union

Date of this Version

9-2023

Document Type

Article

Citation

Nebraska Bird Review, volume 91, number 30, September 2023, pp. 114–122.

Comments

Published by the Nebraska Ornithologists’ Union, Inc.

Abstract

The functions and methods of the Nebraska Ornithologists’ Union Records Committee (NOURC) are described in its bylaws (NOURC 2010). The committee’s purpose is to provide a procedure for documenting unusual bird sightings and to establish a list of all documented birds for Nebraska. Species for which the NOURC seeks documentation (NOURC Review List) can be found at the NOU website www.NOUbirds.org. Starting in 2020, the NOURC decided to deal mainly with those species deemed as Accidental on the “Official List of the Birds of Nebraska.” Casual species and out-of-range species are now summarized in the “Seasonal Reports” of the Nebraska Bird Review and will be evaluated by Nebraska eBird reviewers (if submitted on that platform). All records mentioned here are available to interested persons at the NOU archives at the University of Nebraska State Museum (UNSM), Lincoln, NE. Interested parties should contact the current NOU Librarian, whose address can be found in the latest issue of The Nebraska Bird Review (NBR).

The following includes all revisions made by the American Ornithological Society (AOS) (Chesser et al. 2022) in 2022 including scientific name changes and taxonomic realignment that affect the current published “Official List of the Birds of Nebraska: 2017” (NOURC 2017, wwwNOUbirds.org). This report includes all accounts submitted during the 2022 calendar year covering 56 records with accession numbers 2355–2410.

One new species was added in 2022. Limpkin (Aramus guarauna). 1. A single bird was discovered and photographed (Class 1-P, KK) 23 June 2022 at Wehrspann mitigation pond, Sarpy Co. Accession # 2384. This bird continued at this location through at least 08 November with 237 photographs submitted to eBird (The Cornell Lab of Ornithology Macaulay Library). 2. An excellent set of photographs (Class 1-P, PS) 23 June 2022 was accessioned. Accession # 2385. 3. Photographs from 03 November (Class 1-P, SM) and audio were accessioned. Accession # 2405. Additionally: 4. A single bird was photographed (Class 1-P, JP) 14 October 2022 at Heron Haven, Douglas County. This location is around 12 miles north of Wehrspann and is likely the above-mentioned bird, as there were no mid-October sightings of the Wehrspann bird. Accession # 2399.

With this addition, the “Official List of the Birds of Nebraska” stands at 467 species.